beermanpete

Thank you for the help!! It is very much appreciated. I got baptized in the reaction disk this weekend. I did notice that most of the posts here say to glue the disk in. I read the FSM and they say to use grease. I used grease and it works well so far. Should be good for another 20 years. Thanks again for the assistance.

The important difference is the Mistubishi alterntor is an internal regular type. The original alternator is externally regulated. The wiring has likely been modified to make it work. Look for mounting differences as well. The mounting brackets may have been modified. Belt alignment is important for reliable operation and long belt life. The ZX alternator is internally regulated, as are virually all the newer alternaotr designs. Any late model alt. will work with the wiring you already have IF it was modified properly. If you need or want high output get an alternator from a big luxury car. They tend to have big alternators. There is lots of info on alternator upgrades in the forum and at HybridZ. Search around and see what has been done.

Running the ground directly to the battery is fine. I did not see a wattage rating on the website you provided. The single 20 amp fuse for the new lights is essentially the same as the two 10 amp fuses in the original Z. As long as the original headlight wires are only used to control the new lights it should be fine in terms of current draw.

The recommended wheel size for a tire is specified by the tire manufacturer. Typically they provide a range of wheel width and a single size that was the size used to measure the tire for creating the nominal size rating. You should go to a variety of tire brand web sites and look at the tire specs for the type of tires you are interested in. My rule of thumb is: The wheel width should be close to the tread width. Note: Tread width is NOT the nominal tire size as specified by the tire manufacturer. It is the actual width of the tread surface that touches the road. The nominal tire size is cross-section width, which is widest part of the whole tire at the bulge in the sidewall when the tire is inflated.

220° is too hot for just idling. A fan shroud would likely help IF air-flow through the radiator is the problem. What is the temp while driving the car?

Typically, solid black is ground.

A mechanical water temp. gauge uses a small sensor filled with a fluid that is connected to the meter with a small copper tube. The sensor is installed on the engine such that part of it is submerged in the coolant. As the coolant heats and cools the fluid expands and contracts changing the pressure in the tubing. The meter in the dash is essentially a Bourdon pressure gauge and responds to the pressure changes within the sensor. The system is calibrated to read directly in degrees Fahrenheit or Celsius. An electric temp. gauge uses a thermocouple sensor to detect the coolant temp. The sensor is submerged in the coolant. A thermocouple is device that generates a small voltage in response to heat. As the temp. changes the voltage output varies. The meter in the dash is a sensitive milliammeter connected to the thermocouple and responds to the changes in the voltage output from the thermocouple. Both can have good accuracy or poor accuracy depending on the quality and design. The advantage of mechanical gauges is they work without electricity. This is needed in vehicles with magneto ignition and no battery or other source of electrical power. They will provide a reading when the vehicle is off which is sometimes useful. The advantage of electric gauges is better isolation of the measured medium and the cabin of the vehicle. This is especially useful for fuel pressure gauges since routing a fuel line into the cabin is a very bad idea. It is also an advantage in vehicles with a great distance between the engine and the instrument panel, such as a rear engine vehicle.

The Wilwood prop. valve comes with NPT to SAE threaded inverse flare adapters (at least ours did). Our car is a '73 and the original prop. valve has a connection with the front brakes. It is not just a pass-through. There is some interaction between the front and rear brake systems. I doubt you could leave it in with the rear brakes disconnected from it. The "kneeling" would not be affected by the prop valves. Brake induced dive is controlled by the struts, springs, suspension design, and such. Our OE prop. valve seems to be preventing any significant rear brake pressure. We used up several front pad sets and the rear shoes hardly look bedded in. It is very stable during hard braking as result, but to the detriment of braking power. We have the new prop. valve installed but have yet to drive the car, so we don't actually have proof the problem was the prop. valve (yet).

Falken ZE912 225/50R15 on 15x7-20 (1/4" spacer in front)

Why leave the original prop. valve? It is just another part to go bad. In my case, it is already bad. Did you use an inverse flare with the AN fittings? I have not seen the 2 used together.

We just finished installing a Wilwood proportioning valve in our '73 240Z. The brake lines are 3/16" with M10 x 1.0 threads. We used the Wilwood supplied adapters for the SAE threads. We removed the original prop. valve entirely and replaced it with a union for the right-front brake line. For the rear we used store-bought pre-flared steel lines to go into the cabin through the firewall and back. To handle the metric vs. SAE threads we bought one pre-flared line with the SAE threads and the others have the metric threads. We cut off one end of the SAE line and one end from one of the metric lines and swapped the nuts. We re-flared the lines and voila.

I think the only reason you might NEED banjo fittings is for clearance. The banjo is used when a tight right angle is needed. If you have room for a straight fitting the threads should not be a problem. Take a look here: http://www.brakequip.com/fitting7.html You should be able to ID the threads using regular hardware as you suggested. The straight fitting for your flex-hose will have straight threads and use a crush washer for the seal.

Good question. Do you know what the wattage or current rating for the new lights is? Have you measured the current draw to see if it is correct? Since you did not have this problem until installing the new lights the lights could be problem. Perhaps they are defective. What was requried to install the light kit? Does it simply plug-in to the original headlamp connectors, or did you have to install additional wiring?

Have you driven the car?

The trans mount could still be bad in that it could have failed after you changed transmissions by happenstance. You could have some loose hardware. Check the tightness of the bolts. The output shaft bushing is installed at the very end of the transmission where the drive shaft goes in. To check it quickly just push up on the drive shaft near the front u-joint. If the bushing is bad the drive shaft will seem to move quite a lot. The service manual does not provide any info about the clearances. Transmission.bmp

Was the engine you removed pumping a lot of oil? Perhaps the exhaust is full of oil and it needs time to burn out. You said the smoke starts a minute or so after starting the engine suggesting the smoke comes after things get hot. If the rings are the issue it would smoke at start-up. The other possibility, if time is required before the smoke starts, is oil build-up in the top-end. Perhaps there is too much oil getting to the top or there are blocked oil return passages allowing too much oil to pool around the guides. Don't get to rushed looking for a problem that might not exist. It does not sound like any damage will be caused by running the engine more. Run the engine more and go for a drive if you can. Sometimes things need a little time to settle down. Check the oil a lot. If the oil level is not dropping quickly there is hope.

Your 4-speed trans in the early type (4W71A) that was used in the first year 240Z. The shifter and 3-piece case are the most obvious differences compared to the later type. The shifter is commonly referred to as the "monkey motion" shifter. The later type (4W71B) has the 2-piece case and a different shift design. The vibration could be from a loose or bad trans mount, worn output shaft bushing, or perhaps a bad internal bearing.

How much have you run the engine? If the engine is actually a fresh rebuild the rings are not seated, but this does not usually cause gross oil consumption. The rings could be stuck in the ring grooves which sometimes improves with use. Maybe you just need to run the eninge for a few hundred miles to get it loosened up and start seating the rings.

The slave cylinders are likley frozen due to corrosion and not allowing the brakes to release. There is also some possibility that the parking brake cables are frozen and not releasing. There is an access hole to adjust the brake shoes. Try backing out the adjustment to release the brakes. After sitting for so long the brake system is surely got bad. You should rebuild or replace the master cylinder, front calipers, and rear slave cylinders. Also, change the rubber brake hoses.

Brake squeaks can be due to the pad compound, dirt in the pad and caliper, missing parts, gremlins, and other unknowns. There are a variety of compunds available from your local auto parts store you could try that are supposed to help reduce brake squeaks. Make sure all the parts are present and installed correctly. Also, you could try a different brand of pad.

We have Tokiko HP "Blue" struts and Tokiko "lowering" springs on our 73. We use the car for time trials on the race track and have been happy so far. It is not too stiff for the street in my opinion but it is perhaps a bit firm for some peoples taste. Ours is the black one in the foregournd. The tires are 225/50R15.

We finally got the car back together and running. The new alternator works well and has adequate output. The ammeter indicates a charge rate of about 15 amps when above 2000 RPM. At idle (900 RPM) the ammeter indicates a discharge of about 10 amps so the total alternator output is about 25 amps as expected. The break-even point is around 1500 RPM. It seems the pulley diameter is ok and could actually be a little larger. We plan to drive the car at Willowsprings in couple of weeks. This will be the real test. After Willow we will finalize the upper bracket and possilby thin the center section of the pulley.

A few possible causes: 1) New engine, needs to break-in. 2) Stuck rings due to sitting so long. Run for a while (several hundred miles) to see if it will improve. 3) If the exhaust was used with an old, worn engine the exhaust could be filled with oil that needs time to burn out. All these should take care of themselves with time. Go drive the car. Check the oil a lot.

By reclining I mean the seats will fold back flat, or nearly so. My '73 seats had a lever at the hinge point to release the seat back for reclining or folding them forward to access the rear storage area. They also had the interlock switches for the seat belt warning buzzer. If you are still not sure, call MSA and speak to them. They are very knowledgeable and can help you determine which seats you have.

I can't tell the year from your pics but the early seats do not recline. The reclining function started in '72 or '73.